Cook uttered those words 10 years ago, after witnessing what has become one of the most celebrated non-scoring plays in college football history. To this day, however, Clemson fans still cringe at Florida State's ''Puntrooskie.''

LeRoy Butler's 78-yard sprint down the Clemson sideline with a fake punt, setting up Richie Andrews' game-winning field goal in the 24-21 victory, remains a disturbing image.

''It just took the wind out of everyone in the stadium who had orange on,'' Clemson coach Tommy West said. ''It was a devastating play.''

West, whose Tigers visit Florida State Saturday (6p.m., ESPN2), was an assistant coach on Danny Ford's 1988 team that entertained the Seminoles on Sept. 17. It was the first meeting between top-10 teams in the history of Death Valley.

''I will always remember the look on Danny Ford's face when LeRoy was running down the sideline right in front of him,'' said Dayne Williams, the Seminole who slipped the ball between Butler's legs after taking the snap. ''They [the Tigers] had all the momentum. If we didn't call the play and run the ball, I'm sure we were going to lose.

''It burned everybody. . . . They thought they had it won.''

With one play, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden cemented his reputation as a gambler willing to risk everything for a victory. Not only did the play salvage a victory, it helped preserve a piece of history.

Still reeling from its season-opening 31-0 loss at Miami, the 1-1 Seminoles had fallen from No. 1 to No. 10 in the polls heading to Clemson. Andrews' game-winning 19-yard field goal, with 32 seconds to play, secured the second of 10 consecutive victories for the 'Noles. FSU finished 11-1 and No. 3 in both polls in '88, marking the second of 11 consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins and top-four finishes.

Bowden still considers the ''Puntrooskie'' the biggest play he ever has pulled out of his bag of tricks.

''It's got to be first,'' Bowden said. ''We've had some other successful ones, fake field goals for touchdowns and stuff like that. But that was way above my expectations.

''It had two-thirds of a chance of working, because on a punt [Clemson] did three different things: they tried to block; they tried to return, and the other was just to play safe and be sure that you punt. If they had done that we would have made nothing. And they put the return on.''

The irony of it all was the Tigers had been tipped off about the play on the morning of the game by a former player, Jacksonville native Wes Mann.

Mann, who still lives in Jacksonville, confessed to his failed attempt at foiling the ruse this week.

Here's how the story unfolded:

On the eve of the game, Mann and a number of other former Lee High players gathered at then-Generals coach Corky Rogers' home. Mann, who starred at Lee in the early 1980s, was a three-year, letter-winning offensive lineman at Clemson from 1983-85.

''It was Friday night after the Lee game and we were all sitting around,'' Mann said. ''He [Rogers] usually had a bunch of people over to the house after games. And he said, 'For those of you who are going to watch the Clemson game, LeRoy [Butler] called me and said they're going to run a fake punt to me.' LeRoy told Corky they were going to run it on the first punt.''

Of course no one was really surprised that the gregarious Butler, whose playing career at Lee never overlapped Mann's, would call Rogers with the news. At the time, Butler was a junior reserve cornerback of little distinction, far removed from his All-America senior campaign and current All-Pro status with the Green Bay Packers.

Though sketchy on some of the details, Rogers confirmed the story.

''LeRoy did [call] at the time,'' said Rogers, now the coach at The Bolles School. ''He told me there was something special and 'you're going to like it,' but I didn't know what it was.''

What Rogers didn't know was that Mann woke up the next morning and, with the prodding of his roommate, placed a call to Troy Chatterton, a student-trainer for the Tigers and a college friend.

''Corky wasn't telling me to tell Clemson,'' Mann said. '' We were all pulling for guys from Lee.

''I told him [Chatterton] to tell coach Ford that Florida State has a fake punt and it's going to go to LeRoy Butler, No. 6. And he told him.''

Throughout the game the Tigers had their ''safe'' punt return team on to guard against the fake. But with 1:30 to play and the 'Noles facing fourth-and-4 from their own 21, Ford elected to call for the return.

His logic was simple: The Tigers had one of the nation's most dangerous return men in Donnell Woolford and one of its top field-goal kickers in Chris Gardocki. Ford was playing for the win.

It was a mistake he would soon regret.

''I wish I could go back and call a timeout and alert them for it,'' Ford said after the game. ''We knew they had it [the fake punt] and were expecting it all day.''

The play, drawn up by FSU graduate assistant Clint Ledbetter and perfected against the Seminoles' own punt return teams, was put into the playbook at the start of the season. Bowden opted not to ''waste'' it in the opening loss at Miami and didn't need it a week later in a 49-13 rout of Southern Miss.

It succeeded as much because of the element of surprise as it did the execution.

''I think they did know it, they just didn't know when we would do it,'' Bowden said. ''And they definitely wouldn't think we'd do it down on our 21.''

It nearly never came to fruition. Clemson linebacker Vince Taylor had let an interception squirt through his hands on the previous play.

Butler was admittedly nervous when the play came in from the sideline.

''I had butterflies as big as pterodactyls,'' he said after the game.

So did Williams, who was justifiably concerned about making the unorthodox handoff on a rain-soaked football.

FSU punter Tim Corlew sold the play, faking as if the ball had been snapped over his head. As most of the Tigers retreated to block, Williams slipped the ball between Butler's legs.

''I was supposed to go one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi, and then take off,'' Butler said. ''But I kind of went, one Mississippi, go. It was just so wide open, it caught everybody off guard.''

Ten of the 11 Tigers on the field were fooled. Jerome Henderson, who came crashing around the left side, was not.

''If I had waited longer, I think he would have seen me,'' Butler said.

Henderson hesitated just long enough for Butler to scoot out of the backfield.

''By the time he figured it out, there was no way he was going to catch LeRoy,'' Williams said.

Woolford ran down Butler at the 1, saving the touchdown, but not the day.

Williams had a touchdown run on the next play nullified when the 30-second clock failed to start. But Andrews booted the ball through the uprights, despite a testy angle from the left hash mark and two previous misses.

''It's one of those plays, when I'm 55 years old, people are going to want to talk about it,'' Williams said, estimating that he has told the story at least once a month over the past 10 years. ''I'm just proud to have been involved in it.''

So is Butler.

''It was the most exciting play of my career - still,'' Butler said. ''It was a gutsy call that was a steppingstone of my career, and actually, a steppingstone for how Bobby Bowden called games. He calls games to win.''